Lost River (2015) (English Language)

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Review

95min

Cast: Christina Hendricks, Iain De Caestecker, Saoirse Ronan…more

In a desolate town ravaged by the effects of a financial crisis, a single mother’s struggles see her descend into a depraved underworld while her teenage son’s quest to escape their living nightmare leads him to a mysterious underwater town, ‘Lost River’ is a surreal dystopian urban fairytale from first-time director and acclaimed actor Ryan Gosling.

Set in an unnamed semi-abandoned US town called “Lost River” where people scrounge an existence however they can, writer/director Ryan Gosling anchors an increasingly bizarre story with strong social relevance, a quick glance at the current state of one of America’s largest cities Detroit will vividly illustrate the consequences of globalization and social & economic breakdown.

Once the foundation is established ‘Lost River’ starts to get weird, as the “mother” (Christina Hendricks) is forced to take a job at a pseudo-sexual sadist nightclub and her son tries to balance teenage love with avoiding the inexplicably psychotic town “Bully”, you start to get the sense that this film is all mood and style.

It seems that unfortunately Gosling has taken too much inspiration from his most recent collaboration with director Nicolas Winding Refn in 2013’s inexplicable ‘Only God Forgives’, the menacing 1980s-inspired “electronica” soundtrack combines with slow motion shots and lingering close-ups to establish an atmosphere that is far more substantial than any of the characters and the story itself.

Gosling has clearly also taken inspiration from David Lynch and in some of the club scenes it feels like you’re watching a gory and even more bizarre version of ‘Blue Velvet’ bathed in bright red and purple light.

With dark and sinister undertones throughout, ‘Lost River’ feels like a set of morbid and moody music videos for some “Synthpop” band woven into something of a dark fairytale with way too much style and not enough substance, plus a liberal sprinkling of self-indulgence.

An “interesting” and surreal if uncompelling directorial debut from a great actor who we think might become a formidable director when he truly finds his own voice, oh and please Ryan a bit more focus on the storytelling, or at least the characters.

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